With nowhere else to turn, Ardila appears to form partnership with disgraced former pol
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Assemblymember Juan Ardila formed an apparent partnership with disgraced former elected official Hiram monserrate in an effort to get on the ballot this election season. Photo via Ardila/x
By Jacob Kaye
A year after sexual misconduct allegations made Western Queens lawmaker Juan Ardila persona non grata in Albany, the freshman lawmaker appears to have teamed up with a disgraced former elected official who himself knows all too well the struggle of attempting to come back from scandal.
In his bid for reelection in Assembly District 37, which covers parts of Long Island City, Sunnyside, Maspeth and Ridgewood, Ardila has joined forces with former elected official Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled from the State Senate in 2010 after he was convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge and who later served time in prison for a corruption charge related to his time in the City Council.
Ardila’s apparent partnership with Monserrate comes after a vast majority of his former supporters and legislative allies publicly denounced him and called on him to resign after two women last year publicly accused the progressive pol of committing sexual misconduct against them at a 2015 party.
Iced out by his former progressive supporters, the Queens County Democratic Party and most of his elected colleagues, Ardila aappears to have turned to a Queens politico who likely knows exactly how he feels.
“One could argue birds of a feather,” said Lupe Todd-Medina, a political strategist. “Ardila has lost all of his support based on the allegations that have been made against him, so, I don’t think that there’s too much of a surprise that he has joined forces with a man who has run several times to try to reclaim his past glory.”
Though not aligned ideologically, the pair have formed an apparent partnership to ensure that both make it onto the ballot in their respective Assembly races.
The ballot petition forms used by Ardila and Monserrate – who is continuing his years-long effort to get back into public office with a bid for the Assembly seat currently occupied by the soon-to-be-retired Jeffrion Aubry – appear to share similarities, indicating at least some coordination between the candidates in their separate attempts to make the ballot.
Both candidates share petition sheets – which were reviewed by the Eagle – with three judicial candidates who themselves are challenging Queens County Democratic Party-backed candidates.
Two of the judicial candidates on Ardila’s petitions list share the same committee to fill vacancies – a group of people appointed to select a new candidate to appear on the ballot in place of the original should they, for some reason, be unable to complete their bid for election – with Monserrate.
Longtime Monserrate allies Sonya Harvey, Jose Schiffino and Angel Audiffred have been appointed to serve as Monserrate’s committee. They are also serving as the committee for judicial candidates Glenda Hernandez and Julie Milner, who appear on Ardila’s petitions.
Former State senator and City Councilmember Hiram monserrate. AP file photo by Mike Groll
Ardila denied that he was working directly with Monserrate and instead claimed that his petitioning partnership was with Hernandez and Milner, the two Monserrate-backed judicial candidates challenging Queens County Democratic Party judicial nominees. He also shares a petition with Wendy Li, who is running against a Queens County Democratic Party judicial nominee for Queens Surrogate Court. Li also appeared on Monserrate’s petitions.
“On our petitions are three strong, independent, reform-minded women running for judge in Queens County,” Ardila said in a statement. “The committee to fill vacancies in question belongs to their candidacy. Supporting strong, independent, reform-minded women running for judge in Queens County is a good thing for Queens.”
“Whoever else carried them on their petitions is independent of my campaign,” Ardila added. “I will always put the best interest of the community first. Supporting these three independent reform candidates for judge is consistent with that.”
After receiving Ardila’s statement, the Eagle asked why Ardila, who was the highest ranking official on the shared petition, didn’t select his own committee to fill vacancies. Ardila did not respond to the Eagle’s follow up.
Monserrate did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Broken confidence
Ardila was first elected to office in November 2022. Endorsed by the New York Working Families Party and a slew of progressive elected officials, the young lawmaker handedly beat out three other candidates in the Democratic primary for the seat once held by Cathy Nolan.
But around three months after being sworn into office, the Queens Chronicle and the Eagle reported the account of a woman who claimed that Ardila had committed sexual misconduct against both her and another woman at a 2015 party attended mostly by Fordham College students – Ardila had just recently graduated from the school at the time of the party.
Ardila’s response to the allegations changed several times before he eventually denied all wrongdoing following a report detailing an investigation conducted by a law firm hired by Ardila himself.
Despite his denial, confidence in Ardila had been broken.
The governor, a majority of Western Queens’ elected officials and a number of his constituents called on Ardila to step down. The Working Families Party rescinded their endorsement of Ardila. Assembly leadership revoked his right to distribute discretionary funding to nonprofit organizations in his district and also locked him out of budget negotiations, sources told the Eagle at the time.
Though Ardila resisted the calls for resignation, his ability to govern or fundraise for his campaign appeared to be severely damaged in the wake of the allegations.
While a handful of candidates have pursued challenges to Ardila’s seat in the past year, the Democratic primary race for Assembly District 37 has come down to three candidates, including Ardila.
Despite his status as the incumbent, political observers recently told the Eagle that he appears to be campaigning from the bottom of the pack.
Claire Valdez, a Democratic Socialists of America-backed labor organizer, has proven to be the most successful fundraiser in the race. Valdez has brought in nearly $95,000 since beginning to fundraise in August 2023.
Johanna Carmona, who is backed by the Queens County Democratic Party and previously lost to Ardila in the 2022 primary race, only has around a third of Valdez’s total funds. However, her fundraising has still far outpaced Ardila’s efforts. Carmona has raised around $38,000 since December and has spent around $33,000.
Ardila, whose largest individual contribution has come from himself, has raised nearly $13,000 since November. He’s only spent a little more than $700 in the race thus far, according to the latest filings with the New York State Board of Elections.
Ardila’s opponents in the race say his apparent partnership with Monserrate is only further evidence that he’s not qualified for another term in office.
Claire Valdez (third from left) petitioning to get on the ballot in the race for Assembly district 37. Of all three candidates in the race, Valdez has raised by far the most cash. Photo via Valdez/x
“I'm not surprised that someone who's been avoiding responsibility for past scandals is teaming up with corrupt politicians to hold on to power,” Valdez told the Eagle. “Every day that Juan has been in office since the allegations came out has been an affront to survivors in the district and I think it's really appalling that he refuses to step aside and is still dragging our community through this.”
Antonio Alfonso, the political director of the Queens County Democratic Party, said Ardila’s alliance with Monserrate “clearly communicates the priority on self preservation, rather than serving constituents.”
‘Couldn’t do it by himself’
Though it’s unclear what ultimately motivated Ardila to team up with Monserrate, Ardila’s precarious financial situation could have played a role.
The cost of printing petitions and running a petitioning operation can mount up, and it’s not uncommon for candidates in non-conflicting races to sometimes join their petitions together as a way to cut costs.
In order to secure the required number of petition signatures, candidates also need access to campaign volunteers. Ardila’s apparent turn to Monserrate, who leads a relatively small but active and engaged political organization, may have been brought on by the fact that the incumbent doesn’t have access to the same networks of volunteers he relied on during his first run for the Assembly seat.
“He doesn’t have the people power to do it himself,” Todd-Medina said. “Petitioning is arduous. It's knocking on thousands of doors, it's standing in front of subway stations, it's standing by the supermarket…He couldn’t do that by himself.”
But beyond just getting on the ballot, Ardila could potentially stand to benefit from tapping into Monserrate’s network come election day.
Despite his past conviction, Monserrate has maintained a base of mostly Latino voters and political volunteers in Western Queens. Though he’s been unsuccessful in his multiple attempts to get himself back into elected office, Monserrate has led a number of judicial candidates to victory in races against the Queens County Democratic Party candidates in recent years.
“It does help [Ardila] because he is lacking that base that he lost,” Todd-Medina said. “Where else would he go, but also, there is a benefit to it.”
And if there were any year to team up with Monserrate, it would be this one, Todd-Medina said. With Aubry stepping down at the end of the year, Monserrate will be running for an open seat and will not have to contend with challenging an incumbent.
“If there were ever a year for Hiram and for a disgraced Ardila to marry, this would be the year,” she said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Ardila and Monserrate had identical committees to fill vacancies. That is incorrect. Ardila does not have a committee to fill vacancies. This story has been corrected reflect that fact. We regret the error.
